Rent a Goat

I think this is one of my best ideas all year but I cannot seem to bring it into reality, yet. The cure for eradicating poison ivy: let a goat eat it. Goats LOVE poison ivy! I have heard that drinking goat milk from a goat feasting on poison ivy can help your allergic reaction to it. I have found several local goat owners but they have not been ready to “rent” their goat to me. I think I’m doing them a favor by providing yummy treats for their goat. They think it’s too much responsibility for me to tether their goat in my field for the day. One goat owner worried, “What if a stray dog should come and eat the goat?”  Well I am not about to sit out in the field all day guarding a goat, either. My favorite garden blogger, Hatsy, also suggested getting a goat in her most recent blog. Here is Hatsy’s “Weeds of Wisdom”. I think it would be a very viable business for someone to start a rent-a-goat. Weekly, daily, drop-off and pick-up, small fee for the transport. Fantastic!

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Talent-mega Esperanza Spalding

She is 25 or 26? Immense talent. Beautiful.

Hokusai Says

“Hokusai Says” is a poem by Roger Keyes. Hokusai was a master Japanese artist and printmaker of the nineteenth century who at eighty-nine on his own deathbed said, “If I had another five years, I could have become a real painter.”

Hokusai Says

Hokusai says Look carefully.
He says pay attention, notice.
He says keep looking, stay curious.
He says there is no end to seeing.

He says Look Forward to getting old.
He says keep changing,
you just get more who you really are.
He says get stuck, accept it, repeat yourself
as long as it’s interesting.

He says keep doing what you love.
He says keep praying.
He says every one of us is a child,

every one of us is ancient,
every one of us has a body.
He says every one of us is frightened.
He says every one of us has to find a way to live with fear.

He says everything is alive –
shells, buildings, people, fish, mountains, trees.
Wood is alive.
Water is alive.
Everything has its own life.
Everything lives inside us.
He says live with the world inside you.

He says it doesn’t matter if you draw, or write books.
It doesn’t matter if you saw wood, or catch fish.
It doesn’t matter if you sit at home
and stare at the ants on your verandah or the shadows of the trees
and grasses in your garden.

It matters that you care.
It matters that you feel.
It matters that you notice.
It matters that life lives through you.

Contentment is life living through you.
Joy is life living through you.
Satisfaction and strength
are life living through you.
Peace is life living through you.

He says don’t be afraid.
Don’t be afraid.
Look, feel, let life take you by the hand.
Let life live through you.

by Roger Keyes

Via: Barbara

Time For Firefly Watch

It’s that time of year. You can participate in the firefly watch, too, through the Museum of Science, Boston, website. Basically they want to know if you have fireflies in your back yard this summer. It is easy to join and document your findings. You sign up, pick a location, like your yard, and observe and report weekly. Your findings can help local scientists with their research. Who doesn’t love that beautiful light show in the trees and fields.

I Scan My Food

Interesting new iPhone app from Iscanmyfood.com. According to developer Marietta Darrah,  “after 5 months of work and development, our iPhone app “I Scan My Food” is finally in the iTunes Store. We’re hoping to be able to develop it for other smart phones in the future and help raise awareness how toxic food additives, GMOs, and modified ingredients affect our health in the long run.”

The app contains a large database of photos and descriptions of many toxic substances found in everyday foods we purchase at the store. You can research foods and can send the results through your phone. Why would we want to do that, not sure. But watch the 8 minute intro video and you, too, will be able to scan the ingredients on packaging and track food additives in the food and beverages purchased every day at the supermarket. You can scan foods, cosmetics with the lite or Pro version. Ingredients are listed from green (safe) to red and orange (varying degrees of toxicity). The pro version is available on iTunes for $9.99.

I have downloaded it and have used for a day- I am finding it hard to do a correct scan. It is best to have the label on table or countertop. You do have to hold your camera steady.

via: Luisa